Peter Pan Syndrome
by spliced teacup
Summary: Lightning Returns verse. Hope encounters some problems with his newly found youth.


_I kinda rushed this through after seeing Hope in the Lightning Returns trailers. Mostly, it's to convince myself that I'm disciplined enough to finish something in one sitting.  
_

It's hard not to wish he was twenty-seven again. Noel had looked astonished when they had landed off the ground, he was still a little shaken up about Serah's death, so he thought nothing of it. When he met up with his advisers, they had looked bewildered too, again he'd thought it was the distraught boy and the dead girl in his arms. It's only when one of the more braver scientists had meekly given him a mirror had he realized what the chaos had done to him. He didn't scream at the revelation, just looked on in a mixture of horror and fascination. Noel had left a few hours after.

Puberty is a painful process, Hope had learned that the first time he'd gone through it. His legs hurt from time to time and his voice cracks during the longer meetings. Pimples sometimes appeared on his face, no matter what soap or creams he used. That was the bulk of the five hundred years Lightning had stayed in crystal stasis. Now that she had come back, he couldn't exactly worry about those things.

He ends up sleeping in his now too large bed (waiting up for her), the way a child might when their parents are away, stretching out his legs, hoping to find the end of it but knowing he'll never feel it.

When he does fall asleep, he wakes up to find Lightning's blue eyes looking into his. "You could've woken me up, you know."

She smiles. "I wanted you to sleep a little."

Whether or not she would've done the same if he was fully grown, is still up for debate. He pulls himself out of the bed, and together they make their way to the control room. The lights are blinding to his eyes.

He had lived through the stigma of being called a Pulse l'Cie from his early to mid-teens, that era was gone, replaced when the Academy was established as the government and Hope had enjoyed being treated as a normal person once more. But this feels completely different, a few of his most trusted staffers had quit, they didn't cite any reasons on their termination forms. Even leaving the Ark for a bit to explore the city had proved to be tedious.

Lightning leaves as soon as she restocks her supplies, leaving Hope a little concerned, she had taken the last of the potions he'd had in stock.

_Guess that means I'm going shopping._

* * *

Walking down the streets of Luxerion is a test of patience. It is a test of patience because people repeatedly stop him, asking if he's lost. Children sometimes approached him, asking what school he's in and he'd been mugged the last few times he'd visited a friend's house. But he finds himself there because he's low on supplies. Shops lining the streets, claiming to have the better deals. He sees a couple of high-schoolers hanging around the fountain in the middle of town. They wave to him, just as they'd done a couple of times before. He waves back, the first time they'd done it, he'd assumed they'd mistaken him for a classmate but they always did it after that.

Once the shopping is done, he stops at a small cafe for lunch. One of the few places he can go to without being judged. The weather holds up despite the gray skies, so he eats outside. A small sandwich and water. Paying the waiter, he leaves- only to bump into someone on his way out.

The girl from the group of kids crowding the plaza runs up to him and presses a letter to his chest. "I'm having a party, I'd like you to come."

"Oh, um thank you," he says.

Lightning comes back at her allotted time. They share tea together, because Hope could no longer stomach alcohol (not that he was a fan before). She flicks an envelope in her hand when he comes back in with the tray. He pales at the sight of it, it's the same one the girl had given him.

"What's this?" she teases.

"Nothing," he says.

'You sure?"

"It's just an invitation a girl from Luxerion gave me."

Lightning frowns.

"Look, I wasn't planning on going. I just don't know what to tell her."

"You're over-thinking this, just tell her you can't come."

Hope meets up with the girl and her friends outside of a clothing shop. He sucks in his breath before approaching her and hands her back the invitation.

"I'm flattered but I can't go. Sorry."

She looks apprehensively at it.

"This is going to sound strange," she says, carefully. "But me and my friends, the boys in our class, we're all alike in some ways. We have our differences but you- you seem different. I can't really put my finger on it, I wanted to know you better, that's why I invited you."

"Yeah, I know," he responds. "_Different_."


End file.
